This invention relates to a method and apparatus for disabling a starter motor and particularly to such a method and apparatus which will be difficult to diagnose and time-consuming to overcome.
Hijacking of vehicles such as armored trucks or trucks carrying valuable cargo has become commonplace. Also, the rise of terrorist activity throughout the world has emphasized the need to protect vehicles carrying sensitive material such as nuclear fuel or defense-related materials such as weapons from being hijacked by terrorists. Past practitioners in this area such as Theobald U.S. Pat. No. 3,851,504, Roby U.S. Pat. No. 3,738,444, Wilde U.S. Pat. No. 2,519,167, Roth U.S. Pat. No. 2,820,149, Karl U.S. Pat. No. 2,853,627 and Gardner U.S. Pat. No. 3,692,965 have devised a number of methods to prevent the unauthorized starting of a vehicle. Most of these methods involves switches or locks which are positioned physically or electrically between the ignition or the battery and the starter motor to prevent the starter motor from being energized. Consequently, it is a simple matter to trace the electrical circuit from the battery to the starter motor, locate the switch or lock, and disable or bypass it.